Two interesting developments in Pacific, what can India do?

Latin American and Caribbean nations have agreed to set up a new regional body without the US and Canada, Mexican President Felipe Calderon has said.

The new bloc would be an alternative to the Organisation of American States (OAS), the main forum for regional affairs in the past 50 years.

Mexico is hosting a regional summit in the beach resort of Cancun.

The OAS has been dogged by rifts between some Latin American members and the US over economic policy and trade.

It has also been criticised as promoting US interests over those of other members.

'Regional integration'

The proposed new grouping was one of the main issues on the agenda of the two-day summit, ending on Tuesday.

It "must as a priority push for regional integration... and promote the regional agenda in global meetings," Mr Calderon told the summit, which includes leaders and representatives from 32 countries.
Cuban President Raul Castro was quick to applaud Mr Calderon's announcement as a historic move toward "the constitution of a purely Latin American and Caribbean regional organisation".

Cuba was suspended from the OAS in 1962 because of its socialist political system. In 2009, the OAS voted to lift Cuba's suspension but the country has declined to rejoin.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez earlier expressed his support for the proposal, citing it as a move away from US "colonising" of the region.

A US State Department official said he did not see the new body as replacing the OAS.

The terms of the new bloc and whether it would replace the Rio Group of Latin American countries has not been clarified.

"It's very important that we don't try to replace the OAS," said Chile's President-elect Sebastian Pinera. "The OAS is a permanent organisation that has its own functions."

On Monday, Bolivian President Evo Morales proposed that it begin operating in July 2011 with a summit hosted by Venezuela.

Falklands row

The Cancun summit has also reportedly backed Argentina's claim over the British-owned Falklands.

Argentina is angered that a UK firm has begun drilling for oil off the Falkland Islands, which lie about 450km (280 miles) off the Argentine coast.

Argentina and Britain went to war over the South Atlantic islands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas, in 1982, after Buenos Aires invaded them.

The leaders at Cancun were also to discuss whether to recognise Porfirio Lobo as the legitimate president of Honduras after he was elected president under interim authorities following a 28 June coup that ousted Manuel Zelaya.

A long-term plan to help Haiti recover from the devastating January earthquake was also on the agenda.

gentina cemented a Latin American front over the Falklands yesterday as a British oil rig began drilling in the disputed seas around the islands.

Regional leaders at the Rio Group summit in Mexico were expected to sign up for a resolution backing Argentina in its escalating row with Britain after Brazil and Chile pledged their support.

Venezuela’s vociferous President, Hugo Chávez, set the tone of the summit, offering military support. Characterising Britain as an imperialist relic, Mr Chávez demanded the return of "Las Malvinas", as they are known to Argentinians.

“The English are still threatening Argentina. Things have changed. We are no longer in 1982,” he warned. “If conflict breaks out, be sure Argentina will not be alone like it was back then.”

British control of the archipelago was “anti-historic and irrational”, the former paratrooper continued, asking “why the English speak of democracy but still have a Queen”.

Unlike 1982, when some Latin American nations, notably President Pinochet’s Chile, backed Britain’s campaign to repel Argentina’s brief invasion of the islands, the continent now enjoys strong ties between ideologically aligned governments and could mount a powerful resistance to British oil operations.

Mr Chávez was joined by President Ortega of Nicaragua, who predicted that the Rio Group would throw its weight behind Argentina’s claim. “We will back a resolution demanding that England return Las Malvinas to its rightful owner, that it return the islands to Argentina,” he said.

Brazil, the biggest regional power and traditionally Argentina’s main rival, was similarly supportive. “Las Malvinas must be reintegrated into Argentine sovereignty,” Marco Aurelio García, foreign policy adviser to President Lula da Silva, said, adding: “Unlike in the past, today there is a consensus in Latin America behind Argentina’s claims.”

Almost three decades on from the confict, the defeat of Argentina still stings the national consciousness as an historic injury which must be redressed. President Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina has made the issue a central plank of her presidency, whipping up long-simmering resentments that have only been compounded by the prospect of a black gold bonanza in the isolated, windswept archipelago.

The British Geological Survey estimates that up to 60 billion barrels of oil could be beneath Falklands waters, although Desire Petroleum, the company carrying out the drilling, says that the commericially viable reserves are much smaller.

Desire said that test drilling at the Liz 14/19-A exploration site off the Falklands began at 1415 GMT yesterday. “Drilling operations are expected to take approximately 30 days and a further announcement will be made once drilling is completed.

Tensions between the former adversaries rose last week to their highest level since the war, as Argentina attempted to block ships supplying what it says are “illegal” British activities and Britain hit back with a warning that the islands were much better defended than on the eve of the Argentine invasion in 1982.

better for India to wait and watch, USA still has a lot of leverage over these countries, and Argentina was defeated militarily; so the Brits can steal the oil of the falklands and not much latin america can do but watch, either way anyone who has oil will be targetted in this manner, we have relations with UK and USA no need to do anything with nothing to gain.

Lesson for india here. Muster all the support from the region to get back its own territory held by pakistan. Besides that, there is no role for india in the conflicts there. Stay neutral and go about doing business. Wonder if we can develop the latin american market for some of our military wares. If argentina was to start to harm british interests then weapons from the northern hemisphere. China would jump on this opportunity and try to sell. India should try to do the same.

The French had sold excocet missiles to the Argentines who used them too effectively against the Brits during the Falkland war. The Brits got the source codes from France and made them useless. After this incident I don't think the Argentines will rush to buy western weaponry anytime soon.

For a successful market in Latin America, our hardware needs to be inducted and proved in large number, domestically. We cannot expect some Latin American nation to procure systems which are under doubt/scarcely present, in their very homeland.

About the pacific rift, I think its best for India to grab a popcorn and watch the show. Our interference serves no purpose at the moment. Latin America, though weak and not very strategically advantageous, often plays an important role in UN mandates.
If Latin America unites against the US, I think they can become a cause for concern for the west, by their efforts to scratch and spoil American economic interests.

I personally found the following lines to be quite funny :

British control of the archipelago was “anti-historic and irrational”, the former paratrooper continued, asking “why the English speak of democracy but still have a Queen”.

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To whoever said that, The British queen can do nothing but travel London in a Bentley Arnage.

There is strong anti-American sentiment in Latin America especially after the two wars US has been involved in , lot of the Latin American countries have good relations with Iran. The Russians have had a lot of success breaking into the Latin American market especially in Venezuela. This seems to be a reaction to US involvement in the Columbian and Ecuador dispute where USA armed Columbia.

Lesson for india here. Muster all the support from the region to get back its own territory held by pakistan. Besides that, there is no role for india in the conflicts there. Stay neutral and go about doing business. Wonder if we can develop the latin american market for some of our military wares. If argentina was to start to harm british interests then weapons from the northern hemisphere. China would jump on this opportunity and try to sell. India should try to do the same.

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what support, no one see's relations with us as important as those with China.

Since when did Falklands become a part of Argentina? It is an internationally recognised British territory and accepting Argentine claims on Falklands would be akin to accepting Chinese claim on Arunachal. Geographical proximity does not cut it, just because Andamans are closer to Burma and Thailand, does it mean it belongs to them?